As we enter this new year and eagerly wait for Leyna's baby sister to make her appearance, this super long post is our effort to catch you up on some highlights and favorite memories from 2012! Here we go...
We'll begin in April when we left Okinawa to begin Danno's next tour in San Diego. We treated ourselves to a restful vacation in Hawaii before settling in to SD. Our good friends, Precious and Mike, (whom up to this point we have gone through life in Quantico and Okinawa together) had just been stationed there and graciously accommodated us despite being mid-move themselves. Lovely beaches...hiking...luau...indulging the local food...We even got an awesome 2-day getaway to Kuaui just the 2 of us. There we conquered an 8 mile round trip hike to
300 ft Hanakapi'ai waterfall that we swam under. Beautiful, thrilling, and agonizing all at the same time! (I can honestly say that's the first and last time I'm doing that! haha) The cherry on top of the entire trip was that on the final day before flying out, I took a test and discovered I was pregnant!
In May, the main event was moving into our SD home and begin the long slow process of settling in. We were offered a 3 bedroom unit the very first day we walked into the housing
office, when typically the procedure is to get on a wait list that could last up to 6 months. God is so good! We didn't need to house-hunt and a place was ready for us upon our return from vacation. This is our first time to be living in military housing, but it's not located on a base itself, which is nice that non-military visitors can visit us
easily without passing through a gate. It's safe, we're surrounded by many families with kids, playgrounds are scattered everywhere, the military bond makes it easy to connect with neighbors, and we conveniently have a military exchange and gas station just down the street. Our new church home is also just 5 minutes away. I realized I hadn't taken much photos of our place, but here's a peek of what our kitchen, family room and dining room (aka playroom) was starting to look like as we moved in. It's nice to have a backyard now and Leyna always loves to help Daddy with the yard work. We'll try to post the updated home and the rooms at some point next year!
In June we continued to have plenty of distractions away from home reconnecting with family n friends and visiting the local attractions. We went to Disneyland and California Adventures 2 times and the Safari Park with Ila and Danny...historic Old Town and the Zoo with Lolo and Lola... Overall a great jump start to good times in soCal!
July crept up fast and Leyna turned 3 years old!
Jeremy Chou Photography did an excellent job capturing our lil firecracker. As much as I would've loved to go all out and get a
themed party together, with the house still not
completely settled in yet we decided to keep things simple. My
brother brought the family down from Nor-Cal to join us at Disneyland to celebrate, and with a few more local friends n fam stopping by, at one point we were a group of 16! The following day we rounded off 4th of July with my brother up at his
friend's dock at Lake Arrowhead. It was beautiful up there and we had such a great time!
End of July and into August, Dan and I took a big vacation to Paris and Italy in celebration of our 5 year anniversary. Not to mention it tripled as Dan's birthday and an early "baby moon." It was an awesome 13 day vacation! This was the longest duration we were away from Leyna, but she managed just fine with Lola, kept busy with school and got a treat-a-day (a message and little gift from us coordinating with where we were on our trip.) We did a mix of sightseeing on our own with joining an 8 day group tour which brought us to many different locations and quick access to so many places in a short amount of time. One morning we were riding the world's first double-decker open-air cable car up Mt Stanserhorn to view the Alps, and later that same afternoon we were sipping champagne on a gondola ride in Venice! (well, no champagne for myself of course). We journeyed from Paris to Lucerne, to Venice and Burano, to Florence, and ended in Rome. It was certainly a vacation we will never forget! I must back blog the trip someday to show you more photos!
In September we met 3 day old Emma, Ila and Danny's first born and bound to be future buddies with our little one on the way. We got to attend some family events for Leyna's school where we could meet some of her friends and their parents. We're blessed to have found a Christian Montessori nearby where she could attend to stay stimulated and actively learning. So far she loves it and coming home happy every day!
October was full of fun. Dan was a groomsman for his Best Man's wedding. Peter and Caroline's big day was a great reunion of Danno's gang (some who've been friends since middle school!) and jump started more future hang outs. We visited a local farm to pick some pumpkins for the season. My brother came down to soCal and we were able to celebrate his birthday and his daughter, Selah's 1st birthday -- a nice last minute project for me which I hope to blog soon! And finally, the month was sealed off with Leyna's school Halloween carnival, trick or treating around our neighborhood, and a visit to our church festival. DJ Lance made his appearance with Foofa and Brobee... =) Yooo Gabba Gabba!
In November Knotts Berry Farm was free for military so we went along with Dan's co-worker and his family. Leyna had a great time with new friends and had a blast on the rides she could control herself. Dan and I attended the Marine Corps Ball which was a nice little evening out. Thanksgiving was spent up in Northridge, which was our last lengthy drive out of town before baby comes. And just when I thought I'd take a break from work, I was super busy with
projects galore, but very thankful to have all the business and I'm
looking forward to blog it all later!
And lastly, December... We celebrated Dan's godson Noah's 5th birthday which was a lot of fun. Dan's holiday work party was held at Sea World allowing us to enjoy both Santa and Shamu, super awesome arrangement! Leyna had her first performance at her school Christmas play as an Angel. No stage-fright there -- she danced and sang her heart out! We had a dinner and gift exchange with the gang in the OC, something we hope to make an annual event. Lastly, since my due date wasn't too far away, my brother's family and Lola traveled down to celebrate Christmas day at our place. It was a special treat to all be together, grub on mom's cookin, have the cousins play together and enjoy some Yo Gabba Gabba dress up! haha
Phew! What a wonderful year it was. So much to be thankful for. Okinawa friends (including those who may have PCS'd out by now) we still miss you guys greatly and hopefully we will do better at keeping up with the blog this year. Looking forward to what God has in store for us, and hoping your year is also a wonderful one filled with many blessings!
